Mixed feelings for Lotus Racing at the Australian GP

Malaysian owned Lotus Racing had a mixed weekend at yesterday’s Australian GP. Thanks to Heikki Kovalainen’s second finish in as many races (he finished 13th, two laps behind the race winner, but well ahead of HRT’s Karun Chandhok, the only other finisher among the new teams), Lotus is starting to cement its reputation as the team to beat in the rookie mini league. The downside was that teammate Jarno Trulli failed to make the start due to a hydraulics problem.

“Obviously a very disappointing start. Jarno had a hydraulic power pack fail on the grid, not something we’ve seen before and we couldn’t get it changed in time,” explained technical chief Mike Gascoyne. The Italian driver was also struck with misfortune in qualifying when his seat broke, but managed to bring the car home in 20th place.

“I guess we’ve got to have had some bad luck at some point and unfortunately it was today. I’m disappointed for Jarno, but Heikki did us proud – three places away from a point, and he was keeping pace with most of the other cars throughout the race. Maybe it would have been nice if three other cars had gone out so we could get a point, but, joking aside, it is good that at this stage of the season we’re already thinking about points. We’re in a nice position for Malaysia. We’re looking forward to going home, and really looking forward to giving our fans something to shout about,” said team principal Tony Fernandes.

After boring Bahrain, Albert Park and Melbourne’s dark skies served up a really exciting race, with plenty of gripping battles, mishaps and the “customary” Sebastian Vettel car failure while leading the race. Let’s hope that the Malaysian GP this weekend will be as good to watch, if not better. Will you make the trip to Sepang this year?

Danny Tan loves driving as much as he loves a certain herbal meat soup, and sweet engine music as much as drum beats. He has been in the auto industry since 2006, previously filling the pages of two motoring magazines before joining this website. Enjoys detailing the experience more than the technical details.

Crap, there's no such thing as rookie mini league. This is Formula Uno and it demands a very competitive and precised environment, whether its the crew, the cars, the driver, the logistics bla bla bla……

Its a fact that nothing is to be proud of Lotus F1 this weekend and the result shows.

However, kudos to them coz they dare to enter the Xtreme zone, the Hameed Koyakuti's zone.

the supplier for hydraulic is XTrac which not found on the car sponsors. XTrac responsible for Lotus, VR and HRT transmission development with Cosworth Racing. however, the seat is inhouse manufacturing.

No, no. It's NOT the engine. Its not good enough to get to the podium, but cosworth engine is good enough to finish the race without being lapped. Just look at the williams team.

It's the overall package of the car. Among others the level of down-force and the whole setup, etc. I actually expected a more competent car from Mike Gayscoyne, being one of the highest paid car designer in F1.

That said, the regulatins are new, and they had a short time to build the car, so, a few solid finishes is expected at this time. Do hope they get better.

To those who has supported this team on the first race when they celebrated for finishing 3 laps behind AND those who buy the comment by Mike Gascoine about 'getting the car reliable (by finishing last) and now start to concentrate on speed, THIS IS WHAT THEY GET NOW. As i mentioned earlier, is easy to get both car finish the race but to have both reliability and speed is totally different matter altogether!!

Well what do you expect? It's hard for ANY TEAM to improve on flyaway races. Not Ferrari, not McLaren, not Red Bull! Wait until the European races to see some improvements. If the improvement isn't forthcoming then feel free to bash, but if you bash right now just goes to show that your knowledge of F1 is limited.

Going to Sepang??? Not after last year debacle- race started at 5pm and for only about 45min before it got too dark to race. Carparks were flooded. Sepang must the only place where food stalls were so low end and sold out too!!! Maybe shd get those Sepang bigwigs to come over to the Grandstand to see how to improve. And I hv been to 6 races but last yr the final one. Maybe I will try Spore this year.

People, be fair… Given that this is their debut, and considering the resources they have available we should try to be a little more supportive. If CNN sees it fit to sponsor the team, we as Malaysian should be a little bit more encouraging. From the reliability aspect to have finished the race, team Lotus did better than some better and more experienced teams. So credit where it is due..

For those who couldn't believe driver's seat can come loose, here's the FIA regulation concerning driver's seat, from their website.

14.8 Seat fixing and removal:

14.8.1 In order that an injured driver may be removed from the car in his seat following an accident, all cars must be fitted with a seat which, if it is secured, must be done so with no more than two bolts. If bolts are used they must:

– be clearly indicated and easily accessible to rescue crews;

– be fitted vertically;

– be removable with the same tool for all teams and which is issued to all rescue crews.

14.8.2 The seat must be equipped with receptacles which permit the fitting of belts to secure the driver and one which will permit the fitting of a head stabilisation device.

14.8.3 The seat must be removable without the need to cut or remove any of the seat belts.

14.8.4 Details of the tool referred to above, the belt receptacles and the head stabilisation device may be found in the Appendix to these regulations.

The seat must be bolted with no more than two bolts, so it's understandable if it somehow gets loose!

Thanks for the info kimi. I didn't know all Malaysian Lotus staff were Malay. Damn these modern Malay parents… can't they give their kids good old fashioned Malay names like Abu or Ali instead of Alex or Tony ? It's just so confusing.

if malaysian team are joining big competition like this, Malaysians as one should speak the same word which is supporting the team… that will bring unity… everybody has the same team to support and proud of…

Didn't a certain Dato' promised '200 Malaysians' as pit crew then later said 20 Malaysians to be inducted into the team?? Was he counting himself and his biz partners? So what happened to the 20?? If not the 200..

Firstly I would not want to make too much of an hot air being so proud coming in second last. In other words, coming in 13th in a race of 14 finishes… I wouldn't be so proud of this fact.

Secondly, every team there started with 2 cars on the grid, except for "ours". What happened? Malaysian reliability? I guess so. Unless it was Tony Fernandes' wise idea of having a no frill bullshit race by letting only car compete.

Thirdly, where is all the noise now about being the only new team to have both cars crossing the finish line? Guess the team principle know when to shut his big gob after all.

And mind you Staff, I have been competing in races before.

Some of you keep saying that Lotus Racing is a "baby". Just to let you know, Lotus Racing dominated F1 back in the 60's and 70's. They were the Ferrarri back in the day with a huge following of world-wide supporters. They had a slump in the form in the 80's and by the 90's they decided to "take a break" from F1. What I am trying to get at is that they nearly 40 years of experience. This is comparable to the big teams like Ferrarri, McLaren, Williams who also have a huge history in their team. So please stop staying that!

Jarum, comparing this Lotus and the old Lotus is absolutely WRONG! Heck, even the name is different. They are Lotus Racing while the old Lotus is Team Lotus. They DON'T have 40 years of experience because the people HAVE NO CONNECTION WHATSOEVER WITH TEAM LOTUS! So in essence THEY ARE A NEW TEAM.

And yes, finishing the race in 2nd to last position is not a big deal. But unlike all the established team, the new teams designed their cars in a short period of time, with limited resources. You're comparing Lotus with Williams, McLaren and Ferrari who have ample time and resources to design their car and fine tune it, of course they fall short. Try designing an F1 car in a short period, that's what you get!

Besides, the first three races are flyaway races, which meant that they could not bring the new parts that could improve the car, like the aerodynamic parts. So wait until the European races are underway before passing comment! Their designer Mike Gascoyne already said they are bringing in new parts for the start of the European Season, so wait!

The organisation of the Malaysian GP needs to buck-up. The hospitality is really poor. We the real fans also deserve to be taken cared of. Not only those in the Paddock Club. Even then, compare our Paddock Club with Singapore's, miles away. In racing, you need to finish. If you dont finish, you will not win. Hence its good to see that Lotus can finish races and be at the higher-up (albeit at the expense of those who DNF). Its surely a positive step forward.

I don't understand why everyone is so angered by these results. These results are specifically the targets that Lotus wanted to hit. Lotus and management had said from THE VERY BEGINNING that they simply wanted to be the "best of the new teams" and as of now, they are, which is great.

You're expecting a brand new team with brand new car, brand new chassis and brand new management to be the top of the league in their first year? Come on…let's try to be realistic. Do you look at your new born child and scold it for not being able to run? I hope not otherwise you are bad parents. >__> Lol.

Terrible analogies aside…Lotus is doing exactly what they should be doing and they should be applauded for it. Do we all want to see them at pole position? Hell yeah we do…but let's be realistic at the same time.

Stupid retards..This is not a concern to nursing and or encouraging to ur new born baby..it's all about f-1 racing….Mind you,we weren't simply bashing here instead we are criticizing based on their poor result by overlapped of two..unlike some of u diot like supporter only know how to support them blindly with out any conciousness and dignification..To sum everything up,shameless is the best adjective for certain people here..spew~

Racing in F3 didn't do any difference for Manor, who's running Virgin Racing. And before you say Manor wasn't successful, you're wrong. They were. Takuma Sato won the F3 championship with them. F2 uses the same chassis for every team, so no point.

Top ten this year is not a realistic target for the team yet. Though they will have performance upgrades introduced in Barcelona, so will everyone else. The 'goal post' is constantly moving further ahead.

Lotus was simply lucky to finish as high as 13th in Melbourne due to misfortune of others . Melbourne has always been a race of attrition.

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